As a professional working with film as a maker, teacher, or in other capacity there are bound to be questions that occasionally make you think 'I'd like to explore that a little further'... To make that possible, the Lectoraat of the Film Academy created the Greenhouse - an initiative directed at the whole community of the Academy, allowing teachers, guest teachers and other staff members to gain the necessary time, resources, and support to pursue new ideas and engage in practical experiments that will help them develop their professional interests, and share relevant knowledge with their colleagues.

From daily practice to research
Our daily practice as filmmakers, artists, teachers and film industry/education professionals is one in which we are constantly researching and gaining (practical) knowledge to understand and renew what happens on set, in the classroom in our studios and other facilities within the academy. It is thanks to all that knowledge, which comes from our practical experience with film, audiovisual media and education that we as the community of film professionals at Film Academy can bring innovation to our field, and other disciplines reliant on film and video.

The Greenhouse program
The Greenhouse program is a place for questions and ideas that call for what is commonly branded as research. However, what we understand as research is not an academic practice, but the questions and ideas that come "from the bottom up," and are not determined "from the top down" by a fixed research agenda. The practice-based research we want to help you develop has roots in what you are already doing as an artist, technician, teacher, or a staff member of the academy. As befits a greenhouse, the Greenhouse program creates opportunities for you to cultivate the seeds of innovation that are already present in your daily discoveries, and give them enough attention to grow into something that can open new frontiers for you, your colleagues and your students!

The form is up to you
The form of the pursuit of those ideas is up to you. The only thing we ask is for you to find a mode of “research” that taps into your strengths as a professional (e.g. can you use the tools of filmmaking themselves? The space of your classroom as a teacher? Or your workshop as a technician?) rather than adapting rigid methodologies coming from other disciplines.

It may be artistic research, but it can equally well be technical or technological research, or pedagogical or theoretical research. It may involve experimentation, reflection, your daily teaching practices, or design, or a combination thereof. It can be done alone or with others. As long as it has roots in the practices you are invested in, we cordially invite you to come and join the community of like-minded colleagues who will do their best to help you develop your intuitions further.

The Greenhouse initiative is there to support your process with advice, expertise and financial resources.

More information about the program